Gynecologic Cancer Studies: What to Look for at ASCO 2022

This transcript has been edited for clarity.

I'm Maurie Markman from Cancer Treatment Centers of America. I would like to briefly comment on the abstracts that have been released for the American Society of Clinical Oncology (ASCO) meeting coming up next month in Chicago and specifically the gynecologic oncology track.

It's going to be a very interesting series of sessions. There's an oral abstract session, a clinical science symposium session where they'll have gynecologic cancer abstracts, a poster discussion session, and, of course, the poster session itself, where individuals have the opportunity to look at papers and speak with the authors.

There will be some really exciting information regarding gynecologic cancers. For someone like me who's been doing this now for almost 40 years, the excitement about gynecologic cancers is really palpable for a number of reasons. There are some really exciting new drugs, including cellular therapeutics, immunotherapy, PARP (poly adenosine diphosphate-ribose polymerase) inhibitors, and ways of overcoming PARP resistance. Multiple new drugs as single agents or in combination will be presented.

I have to call out the fact that it's not all about ovarian cancer any longer. In fact, in the oral session there are two abstracts that are specifically looking at cervical cancer. As you all know, there's been a revolution over the past several years in the use of immunotherapy and cellular therapies in cervical cancer that are making a palpable difference in advanced disease. Of course, we want to prevent cervical cancer by HPV (human papillomavirus) vaccination, but the focus here is on therapeutics.

There's a very important paper in the oral session looking at the impact of COVID (SARS-CoV-2) on the management and outcome of patients with gynecologic cancers that should be interesting and important as we hopefully move beyond this terrible pandemic.

There are also a couple of papers that are looking at old drugs specifically in gynecologic cancers: a paper on trabectedin, which has been examined for quite a while; and another paper on bevacizumab in clear-cell carcinoma of the ovary.

Again, I would encourage you to see these abstracts and session either in person or online. On behalf of our patients with gynecologic cancers, major advances continue to be made and I would encourage you to participate. Thank you for your attention.

Maurie Markman, MD, is president of medicine and science at Cancer Treatment Centers of America in Philadelphia. He has more than 20 years of experience in cancer treatment and gynecologic oncology research.

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Cite this: Maurie Markman. Gynecologic Cancer Studies: What to Look for at ASCO 2022 - Medscape - May 20, 2022.

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